India-Sri Lanka Educational Relations

Scholarships for Sri Lankan Students

The Government of India offers a number of scholarships every year to Sri Lankan students who wish to pursue their studies in India. Offer of scholarships are sent to the Ministry of Higher Education through High Commission of India (HCI), Colombo. Nominations are received from the Ministry in the HCI. The information on such scholarships and schemes is widely publicized as and when they are available.

Scholarship and fellowship are offered to Sri Lankan students to pursue under-graduate and post-graduate courses in various disciplines in Indian institutions. Scholarships are also available for research work and non-formal courses (e.g. training courses in classical music and dance). Some of the Scholarships are:

Scholarships under the Cultural Exchange Programme: Sri Lankan students are also offered some scholarship under the India Sri Lanka cultural Exchange Programme.

Scheme of Scholarships for Sri Lankan Nationals: Nearly 60 scholarships awarded annually under this scheme cover courses leading to under-graduate and post-graduate degrees in all subjects, excluding Medicine. The scholarships also cover research work.

SAARC Scholarship Scheme of the ICCR: Under the ICCR\'s SAARC scholarship scheme, one fellowship two scholarships are offered at the post-graduate level each year to Sri Lankan nationals. Areas in which these fellowships and scholarships are tenable include economics, education, environment, agriculture, mass communication, language, literature, sociology, transport engineering, applied economics, business administration, bio-chemistry, social work, food technology and home science. No scholarships are offered under this scheme for medicine.

ICCR Commonwealth Scholarship/Fellowship Plan: A limited number of awards are made each year. The study or research areas eligible are as for the ICCR\'s SAARC Scholarship Scheme.

Technical Cooperation Scheme (TCS) of the Colombo Plan: Upto 50 training opportunities are available from the Government of India\'s Colombo Plan Technical cooperation Scheme for Sri Lankan nationals in diverse fields. This programme is administered by the High Commission through the Department of External Resources, Ministry of Finance, Government of Sri Lanka. According to the scheme, scholarships are offered for under-graduate, post-graduate and research towards a Ph.D. degree. At the under-graduate level a few scholarships are also available for engineering degrees or diploma courses.

In the June 9, 2010 declaration (during H.E. President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s state visit to India), both the countries announced the launching of an “India-Sri Lanka Knowledge Initiative”. Under this Initiative, there is a proposal of the University of Colombo to establish a Centre for Contemporary Indian Studies with the support of India. The initiative will also promote linkages between Indian and Sri Lankan universities and institutions of higher learning. India will also consider extending technical assistance to the Ten Year Presidential Initiative to steer Sri Lanka towards a Trilingual Society by 2020. There is also a proposal to collaborate in the establishment of a research institute on agriculture in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka.

Training Opportunities

India offers training opportunities under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) scheme to government officials and executives working in the private sector. Over 100 training slots are reserved per year for Sri Lanka.

English Language Training

The Sri Lanka-India Centre for English Language Training (SLICELT) has been functioning in Kandy as part of the President\'s Initiative on English and Information Technology. A distance learning network linking the English and Foreign Language University, Hyderabad and SLICELT can also be established in future to enable training of master trainers and teachers in Sri Lanka and upgrading their skills.

Education Fair

To highlight and promote the education opportunities available in India, Education Fair are planned to be held annually in Sri Lanka. The fair would provide the Sri Lankan students the scope of opportunities available in India while also getting a chance to interact with the representatives of Universities and colleges from India.